February 7, 2015

It’s been an emotional week for those of us who loved WoW Insider. First the site was suddenly and unexpectedly shut down by its diabolical overlords parent company. That was sad.

Then the core group of people behind the old WoW Insider announced that they were founding a new, independent, crowd-funded site, Blizzard Watch, to keep bringing us the news and commentary on World of Warcraft that we love. That was hopeful.

Then Blizzard Watch met its initial funding goals in the first six hours, and just kept going. That was amazing!

So, I want to say thank you. Thank you to Alex Ziebart for leading the charge. Thank you to Elizabeth Harper, Adam Holisky, Matt Rossi, and Anne Stickney for helping bring Blizzard Watch into being. Thank you to all of the other ex-WoW Insider writers who have come on board. And thank you to all of my fellow fans who made it happen.

If you haven’t listened to the first Blizzard Watch podcast, you should, if for nothing other than to hear the normally cucumber-cool Alex, opinionated Adam, cynical Matt, and enthusiastic Anne become emotional as they talk about their love for the site and its fans. We love you guys, too.

I don’t know about you, but for a long time my go-to source for information and insight on all things World of Warcraft has been WoW Insider, and especially the WoW Insider Show, which for years now has been hosted by the wonderful, wise, funny Mike Sacco. Now the word has come out that Mike is leaving WoW Insider for other things. All of us listeners wish him the very best, and we will miss him.

Mike was in the habit of introducing his co-hosts with lots of background cheers and applause, but no one ever cheered for him, so here, at last, is your cheering section, Mike. You’ve earned it. Godspeed.

It’s a tough world out there when you’re looking for a job, and I know some of you are going through that right now. This is just to say: good luck, keep your chin up, and remember that we’re all rooting for you!